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Democrats, protesters prep for Romney visit

Gage Skidmore
/
Flickr

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney will be in Michigan today to wind up a tour of battleground states. The states were all won by President Obama four years ago, and Republicans need to flip one or more of them to win the White House.

Republicans like their chances in Michigan. Romney and his wife were both born here. His father served as governor. Some recent polls suggest the state’s a toss-up.

But no Republican presidential nominee has won the state since 1988, and Romney opposed much of the auto bailout that’s credited with leading the state’s economic recovery.

So Democrats sponsored their own bus tour with stops not far from where Romney will appear.

“One of the things we wanted to do is greet Mitt Romney with some headlines about what we think his policies will do to Michigan, and so we wanted to get out ahead of him," says Brad Woodhouse of the Democratic National Committee.

The liberal group MoveOn.org plans have protesters waiting for Romney at each stop in his tour, which will wind up with a rally near Holland on the Lake Michigan shoreline.

Rick Pluta is Senior Capitol Correspondent for the Michigan Public Radio Network. He has been covering Michigan’s Capitol, government, and politics since 1987.